Killeshin do the double with league final win over St Paul’s
Killeshin who claimed the LGFA Division 3 title with the defeat of St Paul's on Sunday Photo Denis Byrne
Killeshin 1-8
St Paul’s 1-4
KILLESHIN added a second piece of silverware to their 2025 collection on Sunday afternoon after a battle with St Paul’s. It was a contest between the 2024 and 2025 Junior Champions and a repeat of the 2024 Junior final.
The sides were neck and neck for the majority of the contest before substitute Chloe Whelan found the net for Killeshin, which cushioned their lead to four entering the final minutes.
St Paul’s captain Aoife Langford got her side off the mark first with a fine score from play. Only moments later, Mary-Kate Moore set up Shannon Costello to find the back of Siobhan Dowling’s net. St Paul’s had another goal scoring opportunity, but Rebecca Balfe was unfortunate to strike the crossbar.
Killeshin responded strong with three points in a row, one from Cara English, while Aisling Cawley added the other two. English was causing trouble inside with her pace and soon found herself facing Sinead O’Rourke but drilled the ball wide.
Balfe added her name to the St Paul’s scoresheet pointing from play, having struck the crossbar early on. She stepped up minutes later and added a second super score to her name. English replied for Killeshin pointing the final score of the half leaving St Paul’s ahead by two, 1-3 to 0-4.
The recently crowned Junior Champions started the second half with intent as Emma Malone got the scoring underway inside the first two minutes. English yet again found herself in the face of the goals, but her effort struck the cross bar, the ball was worked around and found its way back to English, who pointed her second of the contest. Emma Malone raised a white flag a minute later to push her side ahead for the first time in the contest.
Clodagh Brogan split the posts for St Paul’s in the 40th minute to bring the game level but despite their best efforts, this remained their final score of the game. Cawley pointed a free for Killeshin taking her tally to three and putting her side one point clear.
The ball went to end to end for much of the next ten minutes with Killeshin in search of a security score and St Paul’s looking for a winner. With Killeshin leading by one entering the final five minutes, substitute Chloe Whelan fired to the back of the net after a fine passage of play, which saw English find Cawley, who in turn set up Whelan giving Killeshin a four-point cushion.
St Paul’s fought hard to find scores to attempt to bring the game level, but a resilient Killeshin team, who bowed out of the Leinster Junior campaign in the semi-finals last weekend, were on their A game ensuring they would be promoted to Division 2 for 2026 alongside their promotion to the Intermediate Championship.
SCORERS:
Killeshin: Chloe Whelan 1-0, Aisling Cawley (0-1f) and Cara English 0-3 each, and Emma Malone 0-2.
St Paul’s: Shannon Costello 1-0, Rebecca Balfe 0-2, Aoife Langford and Clodagh Brogan 0-1 each.
KILLESHIN: Siobhan Dowling; Seoighe English, Mary Claire Kelly, Orla Davis; Eadaoin Cawley, Lucy Gaffney, Katie McGrath; Ciara Malone, Niamh Graham; Aisling Cawley, Emma Malone, Darien Hughes, Cara English, Chelsey Dooley, Ciara McDonald.
Sub: Chloe Whelan for McDonald (47m), Amy Heffernan for McGrath (54m), Eva Kavanagh for Graham (60m).
ST PAUL’S: Sinead O’Rourke; Zoe Keegan, Kelly Hogan, Kayla Lawlor; Aoife Langford, Louise O’Halloran, Lucy Kirwan; Mary-Kate Moore, Rebecca Balfe; Aoibhinn Maher, Shannon Costello, Ellen O’Neill; Clodagh Brogan, Anna Keegan, Kerrie Costello.
Subs: Amber Woods for Keegan (47m), Ciara Langford for K. Costello (55m), Caoimhe Dooley for O’Neill (60m).
Referee: Kevin Phelan (St Brigid’s).
